January 27, 2024

Zero Gravity Coffee Cup Was Not Supposed to Look Like a Vulva (Source: Boing Boing)
NASA's curvaceous capillary beverage cup, designed for drinking coffee in microgravity environments, looks like it could have been a creation of Georgia O'Keeffe. However, it was actually invented by astronaut Donald Pettit on the International Space Station and patented in 2018. The capillary beverage cup has a special corner inside that narrows down towards the drinking edge. This design helps keep the liquid inside, making it easier to drink the content in low or zero gravity. The cup's open top lets you enjoy the smell of your drink without worrying about spills or floating drops in space. (1/25)

SpaceX Seemingly Bought a Boeing 737 with a Strange Livery — and Nobody Appears to Know Why (Source: Business Insider)
A planespotter at LAX was surprised by a Boeing 737 with an unusual grey livery. The jet turned out to be owned by a company linked to SpaceX. It's the fifth plane linked to SpaceX, but the others are all Gulfstream private jets. The FAA's registry shows the jet's owner is Falcon Aviation Holdings LLC. That company's address is the same as SpaceX's headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

The Boeing jet first entered service in 2002, when it was delivered to Air China. A decade later, Air China then converted the plane into a freighter. It's unclear whether it's still configured as such, or what SpaceX might be using it for. (1/26)

China, Russia Disguise Attack Threats Posed by Their Satellites, US Says (Source: Bloomberg)
China and Russia have launched satellites that are meant to inspect and repair other spacecraft but could be used to attack US assets, according to a new report from the US Space Force. The dual-use nature of some spacecraft, such as the Chinese satellites Shijian 17 and 21, “makes counterspace tests or hostile activity difficult to detect, attribute or mitigate,” the Space Force said in its first public assessment of threats since the service began operation in December 2019. (1/25)

Virgin Galactic Completes 11th Successful Suborbital Mission (Source: Virgin Galactic)
Virgin Galactic completed its first spaceflight of 2024 and 11th mission, marking the first time all four seats aboard VSS Unity were occupied by private astronauts. "The success of ‘Galactic 06’ and the Company’s other commercial spaceflights in recent months only increases our confidence in the repeatability of our product and our ability to deliver a superlative experience to our customers," said CEO Michael Colglazier. "With the production of our next-generation Delta-class ships underway, we look forward to expanding our flight capacity with testing expected to start next year and commercial service in 2026.” (1/26)

SpaceX Files for $21M, 6-Floor Parking Garage at Texas Starbase (Source: Valley Central)
SpaceX has filed for the construction of a $21 million parking garage, records show. The project, titled “SpaceX Production Site Parking Garage,” will be located on Boca Chica and Remedios Avenue at the Starbase facility. It is described as a 269,744-square-foot, six-tier open parking garage. Construction is scheduled to start Feb. 5 and finish on July 1. (1/26)

Senator Kaine and NASA Leaders Celebrate BWXT’s Advancements in Space Travel Technology (Source: WDBJ)
BWXT is making advancements in technology that will help NASA get to Mars faster. US Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) met with NASA leaders to celebrate BWXT’s Innovation Center and the significant role it plays in space travel for the United States. BWXT specializes in making nuclear reactor cores for U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and submarines. The BWXT Innovation Center also works to develop advanced technologies for NASA. (1/26)

US Moves to Dismiss Ligado Spectrum Lawsuit, Disputes Court Jurisdiction and Claims (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Justice Department has filed to dismiss satellite communications firm Ligado Network’s October 2023 lawsuit against the federal government, arguing both that the court does not have jurisdiction and that the company’s claims have no legal basis. Ligado’s suit alleged that officials at the Departments of Defense and Commerce took “unlawful actions” to, in effect, improperly seize without compensation the firm’s L-band spectrum granted to build a 5G communications network by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2020 over department objections. (1/26)

New Effort Seeks to Study Health Issues for Private Astronauts (Source: Space News)
Medical researchers and commercial spaceflight advocates are working to begin a new effort to study the health issues and risks that space travel poses to a more diverse population of private astronauts. Virgin Galactic flights, along with other suborbital flights by Blue Origin and several orbital missions by SpaceX, have allowed dozens of private astronauts to go to space in the last few years. Many of those people would likely have not passed strict medical standards used by NASA and other space agencies for professional astronauts.

A recent workshop discussed a proposal outlined in a recent report to establish a Human Research Program for Civilians in Spaceflight and Space Habitation, or HRP-C. The effort, modeled on NASA’s own Human Research Program, would collect medical data from spaceflight participants and conduct focused research on potential spaceflight risks. The purpose of HRP-C is research, not regulatory. “Our mission is to have as many people fly in space as possible based on strong science,” said Michael Schmidt, chief executive of Solvaris Aerospace. “It was never about how to screen people who should and shouldn’t go.” (1/26)

China Sends Human Bone Cells to TSS (Source: Space.com)
A Chinese space freighter has delivered human bone cells to the Tiangong space station for on-orbit research. The Tianzhou 7 cargo spacecraft launched on Jan. 17 to the Tiangong space station. Among its cargo of around 12,350 pounds were more than 60 experiments, including human bone cells for research into bone mineral density. (1/26)

Lichen Survives on Outside of International Space Station (Source: ExplorersWeb)
Lichen from Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys survived 18 months on a platform attached to the outside of the ISS’s Columbus module, Futurism reported. Though they emerged in worse shape than temperate lichens tested separately in “Mars-like conditions,” many still survived. (1/25)

‘Sci-fi Instrument’ Will Hunt for Giant Gravitational Waves in Space (Source: Nature)
The first experiment to measure gravitational waves from space has been given the green light by ESA. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will use the precise timing of laser beams travelling across 2.5 million kilometres of the Solar System to hunt for gigantic ripples in space-time caused by mergers between supermassive black holes, among other events. (1/26)

Space Force Selects Vendors for Suborbital Launch Services (Source: Space News)
The Space Force’s Space Systems Command announced Jan. 26 that additional vendors have been selected for the Sounding Rocket Program-4. This is a multiyear contract where companies compete for orders to launch small rockets used to carry scientific instruments and experiments into suborbital space. Kratos Space & Missile Defense Systems, L3Harris’ Aerojet Rocketdyne Coleman Aerospace, and Corvid Technologies were awarded indefinite-delivery indefinite-quantity (IDIQ) contracts for Sounding Rocket Program-4.

Sounding rockets are small test vehicles that carry scientific payloads that are put into space for short periods of time, usually for a few minutes. When the program started in 2018, Space Vector and Northrop Grumman won seven-year IDIQ contracts for SRP-4. With the addition of three new vendors, the program has been extended until 2029 and its total value increased from $424 million to $877 million. (1/27)

Japan's Crippled Rover Deploys Robots on Moon (Source: Space Daily)
JAXA reported that a small exploratory robots, has emerged from SLIM onto the lunar surface to conduct activities, including the first picture confirmation of SLIM on the moon, the space agency said. "According to telemetry data, after deployment from SLIM, LEV-1 executed planned leaping movements and direct communication with ground stations, including inter-robot test radio wave data transmission."

"The Lunar Excursion Vehicle 2 (LEV-2/SORA-Q) has successfully taken an image of the SLIM spacecraft on the Moon," JAXA said. "LEV-2 is the world's first robot to conduct fully autonomous exploration on the lunar surface." While JAXA announced the success of its lunar robots, the fate of SLIM remains less certain because the agency has not found a way to generate power for it. It said anomalies during landing are still being analyzed but are hoping that solar panels will eventually generate enough power for it. (1/25)

ESA Astronaut Commands Robots on Earth From ISS (Source: Space Daily)
Bridging the vast expanse between the ISS and Earth, Swedish ESA astronaut Marcus Wandt is at the forefront of the 'Surface Avatar' experiment, a novel project leading the way in telerobotics. A significant leap in this experiment is the introduction of the dog-like DLR robot named Bert. Unlike his wheel-driven counterparts, Bert is equipped with leg-based locomotion, allowing him to traverse and explore challenging terrains, such as rough surfaces and small caves. Wandt expertly navigated Bert through the lab's environment, using the robot's camera eyes to monitor the terrain. Concurrently, Wandt managed the operations of two other robots: DLR's humanoid service robot Rollin' Justin and ESA's Interact Rover. (1/26)

FCC Reaffirms Orbital Debris Mitigation Rules (Source: Space News)
The Federal Communications Commission has clarified, but not altered, rules to mitigate orbital debris. The five FCC commissioners voted unanimously during a Jan. 25 meeting to approve an order on reconsideration of rules it adopted in 2020. The order was a response to three petitions from industry seeking changes to the rules and how they are applied to satellite operators. The order “will uphold the current regulatory environment for orbital debris mitigation while providing additional clarity and guidance for satellite operators, and reinforces the commission’s commitment to space safety,” said Julie Kearney. (1/26)